Teen in rape charged with nine felonies
LAX COURTHOUSE A 17-year-old day laborer accused of breaking into a Santa Monica condo and raping the owner when she returned home was charged as an adult Tuesday with nine felonies.
Luis Mario Lopez was scheduled to be arraigned Tuesday afternoon at the Airport Branch Courthouse on charges including forcible rape, residential burglary and unlawfully taking the woman’s 2003 Mercedes-Benz SL 500 convertible. That arraignment was postponed until Oct. 9, the District Attorney’s Office said.
Lopez is being held on $7 million bail at the Twin Towers Correctional Facility in Downtown Los Angeles.
Lopez was arrested Friday in his hometown of Oxnard while driving the victim’s vehicle, according to Santa Monica police. Evidence linking him to the crime was recovered from the car and his home. Lopez also used the victim’s ATM card.
The woman was confronted and tied up around 10 p.m. Thursday when she came home and found the house had been ransacked, police said.
The woman was repeatedly attacked over a four-hour period and suffered injuries, including a broken nose.
Evidence indicates that the teen entered the victim’s home through a doggy door some time Thursday morning, and then attacked her when she returned home that evening, police said.
The teen had previously worked for the 42-year-old victim at her home in the 1100 block of Princeton Avenue, police said.
At a news conference last week, SMPD Chief Tim Jackman called the crime “vicious and brutal” and said authorities believe the woman was “specifically targeted.”
If convicted, Lopez faces multiple life prison terms and would be required to submit to HIV-AIDS testing, according to the criminal complaint.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on October 3, 2007. Read the original PDF.